I’ve been dreaming of tortilla soup for weeks now, WEEKS! I looked at a few recipes but nothing really appealed to me until I stumbled across this one from Half Baked Harvest. What stood out to me? CROCKPOT! I love anything that takes my kitchen time down to a minimum. The kids thought this soup was pretty awesome but I’m gonna chalk that up to the fact that they got to crumble chips into the bowl and scoop them out with a spoon. Speaking of chips, have you tried the new Restaurant-Style Tortilla Chips from Trader Joe’s?! They are a must! I kind of feel like this soup should be called Crockpot Chicken Enchilada Soup but I’m not the recipe creator.

Crockpot Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

1sweet onion, diced

1-2jalapeños, seeded and chopped (I did 1.5 since I knew the kids would be eating)

2clovesgarlic, minced

1poundboneless, skinless chicken breast

2teaspoonscumin

1teaspoonkosher salt and pepper

3cupshomemade or store-bought red enchilada sauce (Read the ingredient list if store-bought! Trader Joe’s had some that looked toxic but Whole Foods 365 brand had a clean version.)

In the bottom your crockpot, layer the onion, jalapeños, and garlic. Add the chicken, cumin, salt, and pepper. Pour over the enchilada sauce and broth.

Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or on high for 4-6 hours. Shred the chicken using two forks. Stir in the rice, lime juice, and cilantro. Taste and add salt if needed.

Ladle the soup into bowls and top with tortilla chips, mango, avocado, cheese, and yogurt. Garnish with cilantro and limes. I added brown rice to the bowl for the kiddos which they seemed to like so feel free to use your imagination when it comes to serving!

Seriously, forget Chipotle because they’ve got nothing on this super simple, super clean carnitas recipe. I’ve made many versions of pulled, slow-cooked meats but this might take the cake on being one of the easiest recipes that I have tried. This is a recipe from 100 Days of Real Food and I truly love her recipes because they are not too complicated and they use easy to find, whole foods. Bonus on this recipe? My kids even ate it! We have only a handful of meals we can all eat together so I’m happy to add another one to the mix. They had carnitas with salsa and sour cream in a corn tortilla and I had mine with cauliflower rice, salsa verde and shishito peppers. Everybody wins! Man, I LOVE that!

As I got into bed last night, on the eve of finishing up my 3 day detox, I began dreaming of this recipe from Against All Grain. After a totally vegan diet for the last three days all I could think about was MEAT! Delicious, organic, grass-fed beef to be exact. As soon as I dropped kiddo #1 off at school this morning, kiddo #2 and I zipped to the store to pick up the necessary recipe ingredients and it was in the crockpot and cooking away before the second one was delivered to nursery school. Dinner was DONE by 9am. You can’t beat THAT! This should last you for at least a couple meals so kick-back, relax and put your feet up because you are officially off dinner duty!

Chipotle Barbacoa

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

3 pound center cut shoulder roast

3 to 5 large dried chipotle peppers, seeds removed

½ yellow onion

juice from 2-3 limes

¼ cup tomato paste

4 garlic cloves

1½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon oregano

¾ cup low-sodium beef or chicken stock

3 bay leaves

1 teaspoon whole cloves (I accidentally used ground, it was fine)

Instructions:

Cut the roast into two pieces, trimming any fat and place in the pot of a slow cooker.

I’ve been meaning to post this recipe for quite some time because, well, it’s just THAT good and everyone should have this in their arsenal for a great, healthy dinner. Incredibly versatile and satisfying, this recipe WILL NOT disappoint. This is a Skinnytaste recipe that I have made no less than 100 times. I don’t even measure the ingredients anymore because honestly, it’s fool-proof – one of the many bonuses of crockpot recipes. Make it on Sunday and eat it for the week, throw the ingredients in the crockpot at 5pm and dinner is ready by 7pm. You can’t go wrong. Serve over salad, in a corn tortilla, over cauliflower rice – the possibilities are limitless!